The
terror attack on a Kenyan shopping centre that has left 68 dead was
allegedly being led by the white English widow of a 7/7 London terror
attack bomber.
Soldiers said a white woman wearing a veil was shouting
orders to gunmen in Arabic during the bloody massacre inside the
Westgate shopping mall.
Al Shabaab said last night on Twitter
that Samantha Lewthwaite, the ‘white widow’ of London 7/7 bomber
Jermaine Lindsay, was ‘in their ranks.’.
As well as boasting Lewthwaite
was with them, Al Shabaab claimed two British men from London, Liban
Adam, 23, and Ahmed Nasir Shirdoon, 24, were among the ‘holy warriors’
in the attack.
Writing on Twitter, the terrorists said: ‘Sherafiyah
lewthwaite aka samantha is a brave lady! We are happier to have her in
our ranks!’ Sherafiyah is the Muslim name now used by
Lewthwaite. Another tweet read: ‘our mujahideen are prepared to die for
our cause!’
UK Daily Mail (h/t Maria J)
Islamist terror group Al Shabaab claimed it carried out the atrocity in
which three Britons were killed and 175 people were left injured. The
Kenyan military claimed last night that ‘most’ of the hostages had been
rescued but this morning a military spokesman admitted the fate of those
held was still not clear. A military spokesman for al Shabaab told
Reuters his group had nothing to fear. ‘Where will Uhuru Kenyatta get
the power with which he threatened us?’ said Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab.
With horrific cruelty, they have
reportedly cut the hands off the bodies of their victims and burned
their faces to try to conceal their identities.
Samantha Lewthwaite and Jermaine Lindsay pose with their son.
Military helicopters circled over the
mall at daybreak today, when about five minutes of sustained gunfire
broke out at the mall. It is an indication that at least one of the
estimated 10 to 15 gunmen who attacked the mall when it was filled with
shoppers on Saturday was still on the loose.
A large military assault began on the
mall shortly before sundown on Sunday, with one helicopter skimming very
close to the roof of the shopping complex as a loud explosion rang out,
far larger than any previous grenade blast or gunfire volley.
Officials said the siege would soon
end and said ‘most’ hostages had been rescued and that officials
controlled ‘most’ of the mall. But officials never said how many
hostages had been rescued, and Kenya’s military spokesman on Monday was
still not able to provide clear details.
Hostages were still trapped inside the
shopping centre after more than 24 hours of carnage in which men, women
and children were slaughtered if they could not recite the Koran or
name the mother of the Prophet Mohammed.
The group is said to be highly
organised, with huge amounts of ammunition as well as night vision
equipment. They have destroyed CCTV cameras inside the shopping mall,
meaning they cannot be watched. There
was no indication of the fate of people whom the authorities had said
on Sunday were being held by 10 to 15 gunmen – and possibly women –
inside a large supermarket.
The siege of the Israeli-owned mall
bears all the hallmarks of Muslim-convert Lewthwaite, 29, who is on the
run in East Africa after Kenyan police foiled her plot to blow up a
shopping centre and two hotels in Mombasa two years ago.
The Home Counties mother-of-four is
now one of the main financiers and bomb-making tutors for Al Shabaab. A
senior Kenyan terrorist official said last night: ‘I suspect this woman
is behind this attack because she has been financing the activities of
the Al-Qaeda cell in Mombasa.’
Last night British, US and Israeli
security forces joined their Kenyan counterparts to try to regain
control of the mall. There were unconfirmed reports that some hostages
had been executed after attempts by the military to launch an assault on
the roof.
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